Remote Work

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    Linked: Covid-19 Explodes the Myth That Women ‘Opt’ Out of the Workforce

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 4 minutes

    I’m a man with no children. So, working extra hours when the need arises isn’t really an issue. (It’s a mental health and work/life balance issue when it never ends, but when that happens I can choose to go do something else, and we’ve made some progress in recognizing this in many workplaces.) On the other hand, I know, pretty instinctively, that if I put a hard 40 hour limit, or a hard ending of my day at a certain time, no matter what, I’d probably be out of a job. Yet, for people with children, there needs to be a hard cap on the hours spent working. The pandemic creating this home/virtual school issue made this worse, and more obvious, but it’s always been an issue. Lots of workplaces talk a good game about balance and flexibility, but when push comes to shove, most of them will also demand that you figure out your childcare issues on your own time and be available to work in a pinch. So, you login from home all evening and work, and if you’re a single parent, the kids get ignored, or maybe you can find someone else to watch them for you. If there are two parents, you’d better hope you both don’t have those kinds of jobs, because one of you needs to be available for childcare, you can’t both be online working all night. 

    And, if you have to choose which one leaves that kind of work arrangement, well, in general, women get paid less and have less advancement opportunities, (partially because they are more likely to “opt-out”), so they are going to be the ones to opt out, perpetuating the impression that women make these choices, that are then used to justify not changing the workplace to accommodate working mothers. After all, they’re likely to leave anyway, right? 

    It’s really quite the little, vicious, circle we’ve made for women in the workplace. 

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    Linked: Where Did Our Lunch Breaks Go?

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

    My point in describing these things is not to brag about how much work I do, or how many teams I interact with, but to point out that it’s easy to find your time and energy completely blocked and scheduled for you. Fighting burn out means protecting, and sometimes fighting for, your free time, including a lunch break.

    Employers who are interested in not burning out their employees would do well to recognize that as well. As the article below points out, remote working gives us all a lot more flexibility to take breaks, and then do some of our work on our own schedule, since we no longer have to commute, or be in a location, but that doesn’t mean you work all day, and then also into the night.

    Breaks matter. Balance matters. Remote work is a great way to find your own level of flexibility, and to provide it to your employees. I suggest you figure that out.

  • There Seems to be A Disconnect Between Management and Employees, Again.

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 4 minutes

    Specifically, as this article points out, companies seem to think they’re doing a bang-up job supporting their employees during all of this forced work-from-home stuff, and pandemic fears, but employees don’t seem to agree: Nearly three-quarters of managers in the survey say they’re helping their staff learn skills to work in a new way. But…

  • What I am Sharing (weekly) Sept. 20, 2020

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 1 minute

    Five Strategies Building Relationships Remotely

    Software Updates and Why They’re Important

    Legal advice is often unaffordable. Here’s how more people can get help

    This security awareness training email is actually a phishing scam

    “A creative phishing campaign uses an email template that pretends to be a reminder to complete security awareness training from a well-known security company.”

    No Internal Investigation Is Complete Without ESI

    Observations from the Annual ILTA Conference:

    Ransomware Increases by 715% in First Half of 2020

    E-Discovery Platform RelativityOne Gets Its Next-Generation Interface, Aero UI

    Internet Access Has Never Been More Important — and Unequal

    What is mental health first aid? Why every workplace should offer it

    5 TED Talks That Will Make You Better at Remote Work

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    Linked: Study Finds Productivity Not Deterred by Shift to Remote Work

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Note the reality of giving employees flexibility: “”Workers have proven themselves more than capable of handling flexible work options during a crisis,” Weiler Reynolds said. “Companies should continue to foster the sense of freedom and control that flexible work options provide and build strong flexible work programs. These programs are a smart way for companies…

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    Linked: Remote Work Doesn’t Have to Mean All-Day Video Calls

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

    As I look at the workplaces that have remained remote, versus the ones who couldn’t wait to get back to “normal”, I suspect this has a lot to do with the difference: “The Covid-19 crisis has distanced people from the workplace, and employers have generally, if sometimes reluctantly, accepted that people can work effectively from…